Spiffy:

Iffy:

How long will it be? Can you talk your way through the game?

To say that Fallout 3 has traveled a rocky development road is a bit of an understatement, as the game has seemingly been in the works in one shape or another for nearly a decade. Originally the baby of Interplay and Black Isle Studio, the game was shelved after Interplay went bankrupt, despite the fact that a working prototype was making the rounds. Much to the chagrin of some hardcore Fallout fans, the IP was sold to Bethesda Softworks, developers of the popular Elder Scrolls franchise. When it was finally unveiled to journalists for the first time over a year ago, nearly everyone thought that the company was taking the franchise in a new and exciting direction. Now that we've finally gotten to play the game for almost an hour, we can say that we wholeheartedly agree.

As you may have read in our previous previews, the game kicks off inside Vault 101 with your character's birth. Presented entirely from the first-person perspective, you'll enter the world and be immediately called upon to customize your character's appearance. From the bits and parts we've seen of this sequence, the customization will be a lot like that seen in Bethesda's last title, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. You'll be able to use sliders to change everything from your character's eye color to the shape of his or her ears, and the finished product will be reflected when you see your Liam Neeson-voiced father for the first time.

Unfortunately, your poor mother doesn't make it through the trials of childbirth, so it's just you and your dad in your little section of the Vault. Although the early part of the game is supposed to be fairly short (at least when compared to the full length of the campaign), it spans quite a few years. On one of your birthdays, you'll be given a book entitled "You're S.P.E.C.I.A.L.," which will serve as your introduction to the game's attribute system. During this sequence, you'll need to set your character's levels in the following categories: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. Although these will mainly stay the same throughout the game, you'll be able to alter them from time to time (more on that later).

After you've sorted out what type of character you want to play, you'll eventually earn your Pip-Boy 3000, a wrist-mounted tool that will give you information on everything from your character's health to the items you're carrying. The item system will be similar to the one in Oblivion in that you'll be limited by the total weight of the gear in your inventory. Basically, you'll need to bring up your Pip-Boy often if you want to really delve into the game's deep RPG systems, and in the Xbox 360 version (which is what we played) it can be accessed with a quick tap of the B button.

The real action doesn't begin until your character leaves the safety of Vault 101 behind and journeys into the nuclear war-ravaged wasteland that was Washington D.C. Why would anyone want to do that? Well, if you woke up one morning and your father (the only family you've ever known) was gone, what would you dor Our hands-on time with Fallout 3 began with the opening of the Vault door, and we stepped out into the sun to begin our quest.